1889-90.] 177 



Close by, through the courtesy of Mr. James Thompson, J. P., 

 the party were directed to a curious specimen of the English 

 elm, which has forked out about a foot above the sward, and, 

 after growing in two trunks for a height of fifteen or twenty 

 feet, re-unites and becomes apparently a single stem above that 

 height. One of the party who climbed the tree reported that 

 a line of junction could still be traced, although from the 

 ground the stem appeared single. A brief meeting was held at 

 Whitehouse station for the election of new members, the ad- 

 vancing tide having prevented an inspection of the sandstone 

 beds and trap dykes at Macedon Point. 



On July 24th and 25th, to 



KILKEEL AND THE MOURNE -MOUNTAINS. 



The fourth excursion of the season was taken on July 24th 

 and 25th, to Kilkeel and the Mourne Mountains. The un- 

 settled weather of the previous week damped the ardour of 

 some, but a fair number turned up at the County Down Station, 

 and were soon speeding along the railway for Newcastle. 

 Arrived there, the prospect of a fourteen miles drive along the 

 coast road, swept by rain and driving mist from the sea, re- 

 quired a little courage to face, but naturalists have faith and 

 hope, and they were soon upon the road. Newcastle, with its 

 lodging-houses and hotels, its half dilapidated harbour, where 

 a pier should be receiving steamboats and tourists from the Isle 

 of Man, is left behind. We go on past " Maggie's Leap" and 

 <( Armor's Hole "; past " Donard's Cave," which tradition says 

 runs straight into the heart of the mountain, and where the 

 saint from which it derives its name is still said to dwell. Then 

 we pass the picturesque " Bloody Bridge," with its ivy-covered 

 arches without a parapet, and overlooking it the ruined walls 

 of St. Mary's Church, with its tiny chancel arch, probably of 

 the 10th century, void of ornament, through which a beautiful 

 glimpse can be had out seaward. The road passes many a 



